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Thats good to hear. Time away does and can relight your passion.

Often, its much easier to keep your passion alive having your teacher give you positive feedback. Because if you are really ambitious or something like that, its hard to keep motivated when you barely get much feedback. Its a nice rewarding feeling when people just say 'wow' or looked Stunned after you know you've worked hard. (Of course just don't do it for kicks ~ there is a huge level of self satisfaction in finishing pieces.. but peforming them is also a very powerful thing)

As for a path, I'd say learn Vivaldi's concerto in A minor (You can just learn the 3rd movement is ALOT of fun.. Its easy to play well and you can sound really sweet, though fingering may be a bit hard in some places, but its rewarding) from the Suzuki books. When I was feeling low, I decided to start learning Vivaldi in Am 1st movement, and it really had me excited. You might also want to pick either La Folia or Allegro Fiocco from Suzuki Book 6. (If you can listen to the recordings it sounds so good) ~ the suzuki editions are fairly easy, and the La Folia has been chopped down alot [though it still sounds really good]

There are many things to do, do not be afraid to jump ahead or try tackle pieces that are way out of your league, it gives you an idea.. Then you can come back to it later and see if you can play it a bit easier the next time around. Consult with your teacher throughout the whole way however, and don't drop pieces just because you don't like them (Well..that is a bit de-motivating I know :P) because it will form a bad habbit later on.

Though, best of luck and I hope you have much success keeping motivated :)

 Don't know if you did this, but it helps to pick up the violin every day even when you don't feel like it. To "show up," if you will. If you're not motivated in the least after 5 minutes, well, then you set it down and comfort yourself with the thought that at least you showed up. Most times the inspiration creeps up as you are playing. To only play when you feel inspired is something you need to try and work past, b/c this is a discipline and not just a love affair.

I am a writer and the same thing goes for writing - you write because it is your daily discipline, not because you are inspired. Some days the muse visits and some days she doesn't. It's great when she does and painfully dry when you're left alone, hacking away at a difficult craft. So very much like the violin; it's no wonder I embrace the craft with all its capricious quirks.

What can be potentially devastating is to skip a few days, which turns into a few weeks, and with each passing day you don't practice, the act of doing it seems to become so much more of a mountain to climb, a hurdle to get over. Pretty soon, you just dread the thought of even trying, and I'm willing to bet money a lot of ppl at this point just quit rather than re-approach that feral creature, the neglected practice. (Again, the same thing goes for creative writing, and probably any art form. This also goes for exercising.)

So. Welcome back to the inspiration! It's such a good feeling to feel inspiration after a dry spell - I think we can all relate to that. But the next time something like this happens, try the "just show up" method. I strongly believe it's better than nothing, even though it might feel like nothing at the time. I challenge anyone to say they can't give five minutes each day (what the heck, take a day off, to boot).

Sandy has published a wonderful article about this subject - are you out there, Sandy? If so, do post the link to the article. Always wonderful to re-read. Such great advice.